I don’t make this stuff up I just giggle and pass it on. I yanked the forum dialog to quell your urge for witty rebuttal, it’s an artifact of “antiseptic plastic packaging”, carnivores too far removed from the sledgehammer smacking the cow to appreciate that all steaks used to “Moo.”
I was doing a search on Google for jackdaws and came across a link to the fly tying/feathers section of troutcatchers.co.uk. I don’t want to post a direct link but it’s easy to find. I was shocked to find that they sell mandarin duck and jay skins, jay and jackdaw wings an many other bird and animal bits. As an occasional fly fisherman I was rather shocked to be confronted by the evidence of the carnage and trade associated with production of the flies. Although I presume it’s all ‘legal’, it’s incredibly distasteful and shocking to be brought up against it in this way.
Response:
You’re a fly fisherman and you didn’t know that the feathers in trout flies came from birds, or the fur from animals?
Mallard and Claret, Snipe and Purple, Gold-ribbed Hare’s Ear,
Teal, Blue and Silver, Pheasant Tail Nymph, Grouse and Purple, Partridge and Orange, Woodcock and Green, I think there may be a clue somewhere in the names of these well-known traditional trout flies.
Original poster:
go fly fishing about once every 5-10 yrs and I don’t think I’ve ever known the names of the flies but thanks for pointing them out. I think all I’m expressing is how easy it is to not think in a joined up way about how we live and what we do. Seeing pictures on that website of dead jays, jackdaw wings etc was a real wake-up call. My daughter has become a vegetarian recently. Whilst I don’t think I’m likely to do that, I’m increasingly trying to avoid battery hens, to buy meat from more humanely reared animals and so on. I also haven’t been fishing at all for several years and am most unlikely to return to it.
Good. I’ll not dissuade a fellow from his convictions, for us it’s one less car in the parking lot, and one less fellow carelessly wading through our fish.
Technorati Tags: fly tying, fur and feathers
He goes once every ten years ? Now that is what I call commitment to a hobby!
It’s interesting that a guy who goes fly fishing once every decade would identify himself as a fly fishermen.
By the way, I’m a hunter, but was recently shocked to learn that hunters actually kill animals.
I’m not kidding. They do. Shocking.
Reminds me of a favorite quote from the Jim Harrison novel “Sundog” :
“Marshall told me scornfully that most people have no idea where electricity comes from. It’s almost equally true with food, I responded. But many educated people find it unpleasant that either comes from anyplace.”
If it wasn’t for the fact things die so I can be entertained, I wouldn’t fly fish.
Yup, killing things – thats the best bit!
Methinks the crumpets are a little bland.
The tea, too weak.
I actually had a run-in with a militant birdwatcher on the American a few weeks ago.
Apparently, I scared off ‘his’ ducks when I crept around the corner of a bend. The nut proceeded to throw rocks at me and the water, and talked trash for about 30 minutes.
I suppose it didn’t help when I let him know what I was having for dinner. 2 mallards, 3 spoonies and a teal shot that very morning.
It’s liable to be a lot worse shortly, with bird watchers soon to pay for an “outdoor” license. Now he’ll feel he paid for the ducks and the bread he flung at them.
Liable to increase the bankside tension a dab. I think they make birdshot for a .9mm – he may leave well enough alone by the time I’m halfway through the clip.